PRAGUE, Feb 25 (Reuters) - Here are news stories, press
reports and events to watch which may affect Czech financial
markets on Thursday.
ALL TIMES GMT (Czech Republic: GMT + 1 hour)
=========================ECONOMIC DATA=========================
Real-time economic data releases....................<ECONCZ>
Previous stories on Czech data.............[]
Overview of economic data and forecasts..........<CZ/ECON15>
Updates on CEE currencies............................[]
=========================EVENTS================================
PRAGUE - Chemicals group Unipetrol <>, a unit of
Poland's PKN Orlen <PKNA.WA> ews conference on Q4 results at
1000 GMT, conference call with CEO Piotr Chelminski and CFO
Wojciech Ostrowski at 1300 GMT.
Related news: []
PRAGUE - Czech central bank governing board to hold a
regular weekly meeting. It is not scheduled to discuss monetary
policy issues.
Related news: []
PRAGUE - Telecoms operator Telefonica O2 Czech Republic
<>, a unit of Spain's Telefonica <TEF.MC>, should
release full year results.
Related news: []
PRAGUE - The lower house of parliament to hold an
extraordinary session (0800 GMT).
Related news: []
=========================MORNING NEWS=========================
UNIPETROL RESULTS: Czech oil refiner Unipetrol <>
made a fourth-quarter net loss of 257 million crowns ($13.5
million), a touch wider than expected and its fifth straight
quarterly loss.
Story: [] Related news: []
HOCKEY: Finland's men's ice hockey team booked a semi-finals
date against the United States when they broke a scoreless
struggle against Czech Republic with six minutes left and added
another for a 2-0 victory on Wednesday.
Story: [] Related news: []
=========================TOP NEWS=============================
GREECE: The Czech finance minister softened comments
doubting Greece's fiscal plans that helped push that country's
bond spreads higher on Wednesday, saying he had meant to suggest
Athens faced an "extremely difficult task".
Story: [] Related news: []
CEE MARKETS: The zloty traded off a 13-month peak on
Wednesday as Poland's central bank left interest rates unchanged
as expected, while Czech bond yields dropped following a
successful auction.
Story: [] Related news: []
CONVERGENCE BET: Investors in the European Union's east have
mostly abandoned "convergence bets" based on when they think the
bloc's emerging members will adopt the euro and are instead
focusing on the fundamentals of each economy.
Story: [] Related news: []
* For a Wednesday poll on euro adoption click []
NEW BOND: Investors bid for almost three times what was on
offer at a Czech auction of a new 5-year government bond on
Wednesday, with prospects for a foreign bond issue in the coming
weeks boosting demand for local debt.
Story: [] Related news: []
CME RESULTS: Revenue at Central European Media Enterprises
(CME) <CETV.O> fell 14 percent in the fourth quarter, but less
than expected, as advertising was stuck in a slump but the TV
broadcaster forecast a recovery this year.
Story: [] Related news: []
NWR RESULTS: Higher coal sales and cost savings pushed Czech
coal miner New World Resources <NWRS.L> to a surprise
fourth-quarter net profit, ending a string of three quarterly
losses.
Story: [] Related news: []
CEE ENERGY: Leaders of central eastern European states
agreed on Wednesday to boost efforts to diversify energy
sources, focusing on the Nabucco gas pipeline and liquefied gas
-- alternatives to dominant supplier Russia.
Story: [] Related news: []
---------------------- MARKET SNAPSHOT ------------------------
Index/Crown Currency Latest Prev Pct change Pct change
close on day in 2010
Czech Equities <> -- 1138 -0.47 1.85
vs Euro <EURCZK=> 25.888 25.854 -0.13 1.63
vs Dollar <CZK=> 19.208 19.033 -0.92 -4.52
U.S. Equities <> 10374.16 10282.41 0.89 -0.52
Pvs close or current levels vs prior domestic close at 1600
=========================PRESS DIGEST===========================
MATERNITY The lower house voted to return maternity payments
to last year's levels after agreeing a cut last year as part of
budget savings package. The bill, which would add 1.5 billion
crowns in spending this year, now goes to the Senate.
Hospodarske Noviny, page 4
HYUNDAI SITE: Hyundai Motor <005380.KS> won approval to go
ahead with a new car transmissions facility as part of a wider
3.5 billion crown expansion at its factory in the northeast
Czech Republic.
Hospodarske Noviny, page 20
Reuters has not verified the media reports, nor does it
vouch for their accuracy.
For Instant Views of key economic data click on []
For summary of economic data and forecasts <CZ/ECON01>
For diary of forthcoming Czech events []
For calendar of east European economic indicators []
TOP NEWS -- Emerging markets []
TOP NEWS -- Convergence watch []
For an economic indicator diary for the euro zone, the United
States and other Group of Seven countries see <G7TODAY>
For real-time stock market index quotes click in brackets:
Warsaw WIG20 <> Budapest BUX <> Prague PX <>
News editor of the day: Jan Lopatka on +420 224 190 474;
fax: +420 224 229 935
E-mail: prague.newsroom@reuters.com
